Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-07-23
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SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Lesson Text: 1.-THE Baptism of jesus, :"
Matt. iii, 13-f7-Golden Text:
Matt. ILL.,. 17-Commentary by
Rev. William Newton, DID.

was now thirty years of age, 4. e., the age al
which the priests commenced their work
Mum. w., 3, or entered on their office. John
being six months older than He, Luke l., So
must have been preaching and baptizing fol
that time. At the end of that time, the Incl
dent of this verse took place, and Jesus began
his public ministry, by public recognition
OF the divine authority of Johns baptism
But in the midst OF the crowds that thronged
around him how was John to recognize
Jesus! For we have the authority of his own
statement, John l., 31-33, that he did not know
Him until after He had been bopfiscd. The
facts seem to have been these.
l Qn ths day liere indicated when John seems
70 have ended the work Of the day, Luke iii
u, single stranger presented Himself tC
him, asking for baptism at his hands. 1t is
perfectly III line with the declaration OF
John just quoted, that as Jesus asked this
rite from him, John must have had O strong
persuasion that this stranger was the Messiah
whose herald he was. Doubtless he was famil.
lar with all the incidents of the birth of the
Coming One. Doubtless he knew that He
would come to him for baptism And now
when he sees the Stranger approach, his i'm
preston as to His character must have been
quite strong enough to lead him to make
the objection in verse II. There is really nc
difficulty in the case whavever.
!, But why should Jesus seek for baptism at
The hands 0f J6hf,. DD net the following rea-
sons furnish a sufficient reply.
l. Johns baptism was of divine authority.
John l., 80, John icas sent 10 bdptize.
2. Johns baptism was connected with the
manifestation of Jesus to 1sraei, see John l.,
81: The reason ,chy he baptized.
3. Johns baptism was the baptism of re.
pentence. And as being one with the people
Whom de came to redeem, as made under the
Lay Which then had broken, and as charged
with their Sins, He cafIle just IKE bne Of
hem, to receive the baptism of repentance.
us.ss ii0t being made under The tdiU,' involve
all this! So He was crcumcized, SO He was
tempted by the devil, and so partook OF
the Passover-just like every other JetO And
SO he came to receive the baptism, to which
His own herald was sent of God, to call His
people 1t was of necessity, that being made
in all things like Unto His brethren. He should
stand with them, on the same plane, before
the Law which they had broken and He
came to .fuLfu
'. A. How shall we understand this? Was not
John filled with the Holy Ghost! Luke l., Is.
Was he not burning and a shining light, the
greatest of the prophets, under the continual
power and teaching of the Spirit! What then
was his need Of the baptism Of Jesus! What
is that baptism! Is not He that baptized
with the Holy Ghost, made unto us wisdom
and Righteousness and Sdnctifcdtion and re-
demptiOn? And does not TINS cover the en-
tire range of his great work? Docs itnoui.2-
clude 'the redemption of the body" at His
coming again-as well as the sanctiticatiOn
of the Spirit! And taught as John was
of the Spirit, did he net see and fee
that all The need lcas on his ou..
side? What would he do to Him whose
baptism secured all these glorious gifts to
each one of his people! And he, John, needed
them all. But why He whose gifts they were,
should come 10 him for baptism; he did not
understand
V. H. And the answer of Jesus seems to
confirm the Baptists expression of his need
1t is as if he had said "All that yousay is
true.n But there is a "needn of which on
know not, This must be so noLC 1t is in
volved in the work | came to do. ~ nd It
becometh us-it is fitting or right or lald
upon us as an obligation-to ftlfU all right
eousneSs." And in theright understanding Of
these words, lies all the difficulty Of tine pas
sage What TighteousneSSs Clearly some
thing that involved the concurrent action,
both of Jesus and Of John. Can we tell what
it was.
Jesus was here to introduce new DISPENSE
sation. And baptism has always been the
outward and visible SIGN of the introduction
of such a dispensation. Thus when Israel
came out of Egypt, st, Paul tells us they
were all baptized unto Moses, in the cloud
and in the sea- l Cor. x,2 But when
that was as great a mark of the divine pow
er, yet we are not told they were baptized unto
Joshua. For Joshua did not bring in new
dispensation, but only carried for
ward that which was already intro
duced. So when the new dispensation of the
church was brought in it was introduced
by the baptism of the Spirit, on individuals.
since the Church itself is composed of indi-
viduals taken out Of" the nation, Acts XIV,
IA, so the new dispensation of Israels coming
glorv-after the church is gathered-will he
brought in by the baptism of the ndtiOn-Ju-
dah-by the Spirit, Joel H., IS, 20. 1t will be
on the scale Of surprising power and greao-
ness when "a nation shall be born IN a day.
Is. Xvi, s. So now when the new dispensa-
ton of q the kingdom of heaven is to be in
PRODUCED the same rite is to be observed,
Jesus must be baptized as the divinely APP
pointed sign of the dispensation now to lie
brought in. And the righteousness " re-
ferred to was obedience to this sign 1t was
the sign appointed for the nation, in view of
the coming Messiah.
V. l6 As John was baptizihg at the fords
of Jordan, Bcthabara, no conclusion as to
his mode of baptism can be safely drawn fror,
the words, tcent up out of the tcdter.
Surely they can be used, as truly, in refer
ence to a shallow ford as tc a deep stream
Nothing but proof text, covering the entire
case, can settle such question. In Luke iii.
81, we have most suggestive incident
added to the narrative of the baptism. II
seems that Jesus did not present Himself
for baptism until all the people present had
received the rite, Luke iii, 81. Then "being
baptized and prdying," the incident took
place. " And prdyiRgn did he ask for this
public recognition by the voice from heaven
We cannot tell. But the heavens were
opened unto Him, and not to John nor any
of the people. Mark tells the same thing in
the words: 'He sdW the heavens opened,
where the seeing is on His part alone. Luke
records the opening of the heavens, but il
silent as TO who saw them opening. While
Johns vision was of the descent Of Spirit
alone Johni. 30. Thus far the record is
clear. "Ihe heavens were opened unto Him,
and therefore TO Him alone. Once more was
the glory which He had with the Father be
fore the world was unveiled to His view. He
saw that Of 'cIiich he icds a CENTRAL part, a'
He commenced His public ministry of humili'
alton. Then came the descent of the Spirit
upon Him, and of this the record leaves
us in no doubt. Z" He sdw the
Sprit.n John SdU the Spirit. The
Spirit descended like dOue, while
Luke adds, ''in n bodily shape like q
dove:' it was not doUe but ''ia bodily shape
was like The dore, even as the cloven tongues
on the day of Pentecos, were not fire, but
like as Of fire. Acts H., 3. Now OF thi'
Matthew uses tine expression lighting upon
Him." Mark, descending upon Him. Luke
the same word; and John the double expires
sion, abode upon Him. and "remdining on
Him" And our Lord claims this presence OF
"a